'Own goal': Trump's new loyalist RNC leadership chaos is causing a 'brain drain'

Former President Donald Trump only recently replaced the leadership of the Republican National Committee with close allies, including his daughter-in-law Lara Trump — and it's not going well, wrote Zeeshan Aleem for MSNBC.

This comes after a disastrously botched housecleaning exercise, where the RNC tried to purge huge numbers of important staffers to rebuild the organization with Trump loyalists, only to quickly realize they lost too many people and try to rehire them back, with many refusing to do so and the Trump campaign itself condemning the chaos.

"It’s not clear what exactly motivated people to turn down opportunities to be rehired," wrote Aleem, adding that it might be because they're turned off by the "loyalty tests" that involve asking them to validate Trump's election conspiracy theories, or the relocation of several of the positions to Florida near Trump's residence. "But whatever the reasoning, it’s clear that a premature rush to cleanse the RNC has pushed out talent that could’ve helped Trump and the party achieve their goals. Colloquially some might refer to this as an 'own goal.'"

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This is also coming on top of other misfires, like the RNC planning to defund minority community outreach centers, then promptly reversing their decision.

The ultimate result of all this, wrote Aleem, is "a critical brain drain from the RNC just as the general election is effectively getting underway." And this is coming on top of the GOP's anemic fundraising, and Trump's legal expenses and upcoming criminal trials, one of which will take place this month.

"The turbulence at the RNC suggests that its disorganized leadership isn’t exactly sure how far it wants to take the RNC in the direction of becoming a pure election-denying Trump vehicle. And the act of firing and then offering to rehire many staff members might reflect a realization among the RNC’s new leadership that there’s a trade-off between total deference to the MAGA movement and technical know-how," concluded Aleem. What this means is that "Trump finds himself encumbered by a familiar dilemma — an army of yes-men can feel good to a certain kind of leader, but it’s not going to be competent."

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